Lincolnite

Downtown workers, near south residents, and UNL students may already be in the know about the Capitol City Barber Shop on 13th and K streets near the Cornhusker Hotel. The Downtown Lincoln Association recently wrote a nice article about the shop and owner Max Starcic. Max is joined by Dave Kreifels, another barber with over 20 years experience. Rather than a strip mall-type of cookie cutter salon, Capitol City is definitely a traditional, neighborhood Barber Shop that specializes in personalized cuts. Additional services include straight razor shaves, neck shaves, mustache and beard trims, shampoos, grooming and skin care advice, and more. The cost of those services is included with the price of a haircut: $15. Better yet, mention that you read this on Lincolnite, and for the month of March you get an additional 20% off. Capitol City Barber Shop is open M-F, 10 AM - 6 PM and Saturdays 10 AM - 3 PM.

While setting up a demo for a client I needed a sample YouTube video. I chose this classic from Wilson history: The book is Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee. We used to read that book to Robbie ALL. THE. TIME. Ahh, daddy nostalgia.

A sign has popped up on the former Wilderness Perk just outside Lowe's on Highway 2 indicating that "Hometown Cafe" is the next occupant of that storefront. I haven't been close enough to it yet to see if there's any other signage indicating an opening date or a menu or anything like that. Despite knowing only the name, I'm curious. I can't help it; I love food, and this just happens to involve food only a mile from my home. The name has me wondering if we're looking at another Hi-Way Diner or the next Stauffer's, for example. Or perhaps the name is deliberately misleading, conjuring up specific emotions but delivering somewhat different grub. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

10/11's headline absolutely slayed me: Keno Bill Is A No Go - While Nebraska Could Be The Next Hollywood Ignore the first part, it's the Hollywood portion that's priceless. The Unicameral advanced LB863, a bill designed to make it easier to shovel taxpayer dollars into film projects. That, apparently, is going to turn Tecumseh into tinseltown. I can't help but think of a particular Andy Griffith Show episode: Plenty of states and localities have tried to lure "Hollywood" over the years. It's an arms race of sorts. Heck, it's not even just a domestic issue; countries around the world have gotten into the act. But like all economic development arms races, the results far too often don't match up to the promises. (Ask Kearney how that Archway panned out, for one example.) In short no, 10/11, Nebraska is most certainly not going to be the next Hollywood. Reality just doesn't work that way.

I found out today from Jeff Korbelik that Yia Yia's has updated its menu. That caught me by surprise, considering that Yia Yia's isn't the sort of place that screams "change". If anything, Yia Yia's is all about not updating just for giggles. I mean, check out that interior! From the looks of it, Yia Yia's new menu does a good job of keeping the old around, while adding some new and worthwhile options to the mix. I can't wait to try The Polynesian ("marinara and bbq sauce with cranberries, jalapeños, black olives, pineapple, bacon, pepperoni, cream cheese + provolone"). I'm also a sucker for a good baked potato, and Yia Yia's added some options there as well. The timing of the menu change (and Korbelik's feature) is interesting. Downtown Lincoln's dining options have really taken off over the past couple years, including a couple new pizza options. Was Yia Yia's business starting to slip a bit, I wonder? Or did owner Nader Sepahpur just feel the time was right to do a little sprucing up? As long as he's in the change mode, I wonder if I could talk him into opening a second Yia Yia's location in College View. Just think of all those hungry vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists! The beer selection might not go over as well in that neighborhood, though...

It seems that despite earlier reports (rumors?) to the contrary, next-day mail delivery will not go away after upcoming changes to local postal services. Our mail will head up the road to Omaha to be processed and postmarked, but Lincoln-to-Lincoln mail will still be delivered the next day. Supposedly. There are many things wrong with the postal service and I don't pretend to have any answers to the big questions it faces. I do, however, think it's a shame that they haven't already moved to mandatory multi-unit boxes (or whatever they're called) rather than door-to-door or streetside delivery. Dropping off mail at every address in town is remarkably inefficient. Think of the millions that would be saved in fuel costs alone! Then again, millions are mere pennies (so to speak) compared to USPS's overall situation. All of these changes at USPS make me wonder if they're second-guessing not closing down the Haymarket post office to make way for the arena. After all, there's a nonzero chance that facility will be kaput within the next five or ten years. For once USPS could have been ahead of the curve rather than behind. Alas, it was not to be. Instead, that building is left to sit in the shadow of the latest and greatest developments going up. How symbolic.